VANCOUVER, Dec. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Response Biomedical Corporation (TSX-V: RBM, OTCBB: RPBIF) announced today that it has now closed the US $8 million equity investment made in Response Biomedical by 3M Company. The strategic alliance, announced December 7, 2006, gives 3M Company approximately a 13 percent ownership position in Response Biomedical. The financing is part of a strategic alliance between the two Companies and grants 3M worldwide exclusive rights, through its medical division, to pursue the development and commercialization of diagnostic products targeting hospital and community acquired infectious diseases, using Response Biomedical's RAMP(R) testing platform.
3M's equity investment consists of 14,797,419 shares at a price of Canadian $0.62 per share (US $0.5406). 3M has agreed not to sell any of its shares for a period of 12 months from closing. For a one-year period, 3M shall have a pro rata right, based on their percentage equity ownership in the Company, on a fully diluted basis, to participate in subsequent issuances of equity securities of the Company. The proceeds from the financing will be used for general working capital purposes, capital equipment acquisitions required for the scale up of the Company's manufacturing processes and development of its next generation RAMP Reader.
About Response Biomedical
Response Biomedical develops, manufactures and markets rapid on-site diagnostic tests for use with its portable RAMP Platform for clinical and environmental applications. RAMP represents a new paradigm in diagnostics that provides high sensitivity and reliable information in minutes. It is ideally suited to both point-of-care testing and for laboratory use. The RAMP System consists of a portable fluorescent Reader and single-use, disposable Test Cartridges, and has the potential to be adapted to more than 250 medical and non-medical tests currently performed in laboratories. RAMP clinical tests are commercially available for the early detection of heart attack and congestive heart failure. Infectious disease tests on RAMP are also now entering clinical trials. In the non-clinical market RAMP tests are currently provided for the environmental detection of West Nile virus, and biodefense applications including the rapid on-site detection of anthrax, smallpox, ricin and botulinum toxin. Several other product applications are under development. The Company has achieved CE Marking and its Quality Management System is registered to ISO 13485: 2003 and ISO 9001: 2000.
Response Biomedical is a publicly traded company, listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the trading symbol "RBM" and quoted on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol "RPBIF". For further information, please visit the Company's website at http://www.responsebio.com/.
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Statements contained in this press release relating to future results, events or developments, for example, statements containing the words "believes," "may," "could", "plans," "will," "estimate," "continue," "anticipates," "intends," "expects", "goal" and similar expressions, are "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" under applicable United States and Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements or information may involve, but are not limited to, comments with respect to our planned activities, business plan and strategies and their future implementation, and our expectations for our financial condition and the results of, or outlook for, our business operations generally. Forward-looking statements or information are subject to the related assumptions made by us and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, events or developments to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements or information.
Many of such risks, uncertainties and other factors form part of our underlying assumptions, and include, among other things, financial risks that would affect our operations such as our available working capital and cash flows and whether and for how long available funds will be sufficient to fund our operations and our ability to raise additional capital as and when needed; our need for substantial additional funding to conduct research and development and commercialization activities; our ability to establish, and our dependence upon, relationships with strategic alliance partners to develop and commercialize products; technological changes that impact our existing products or our ability to develop and commercialize our products; our ability to obtain and enforce timely patent and other intellectual property protection for our technology and products; our ability to obtain and maintain rights to technology from licensors; liability for patent, product liability and other claims asserted against us; commercialization limitations imposed by patents owned or controlled by third parties; technical risk in research and development; adverse results or unexpected delays in product development and clinical trials; our ability to retain, and our reliance upon, third party suppliers, manufacturers and distributors; our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; our ability to effectively and efficiently manage the planned growth of our operations; our ability to obtain, and the timing of, necessary regulatory approvals; our ability to profitably sell our products at prices that would be acceptable to third-party reimbursement programs; competition including competition from others with significantly more resources; market acceptance of our products and the size of our markets; changes in business strategy or development plans; changes in, or the failure to comply with, governmental regulations; fluctuations in interest rates and foreign exchange rates; seasonality including government budget cycles; general economic and business conditions where we operate; and other factors referenced in our annual report on Form 20-F and other filings with Canadian and United States securities regulatory authorities.
Given these uncertainties, assumptions and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements or information. We disclaim any obligation to update, or to publicly announce any revisions to, any such statements or information to reflect future results, events or developments.
CONTACT: Response Biomedical Contacts: Bill Wickson, Manager, Investor Relations, Response Biomedical Corporation, Tel (604) 456-6073, Email:
